LATEDUSTER returned for our first show in over a year, performing at ICEHOUSE in Minneapolis on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 with Halloween, Alaska. We were joined by Dennis Conrad on turntables and Devon Gray on keys. Great photos and links at our Lateduster facebook page. Stay tuned for more developments....

WAREY ,is the new band made up of The Grave Trio + Channy Leaneagh. After performing a handful of live shows in summer and fall 2014, we headed into the northwoods studio at SPARTA SOUND with old friend Rich Mattson in early December to record a bunch of these new songs. Then we had a three month winter residency at Icehouse and were chosen one of First Avenue's "Best New Bands 2014" and played the Mainroom on Jan 17. Now we're finsihing work on the new album at Ben Durrant's Crazy Beast Studio in MPLS. Photos and videos on our facebook page. "Like" us to be updated for future developments.

The GRAVE TRIO is myself, Ryan Lovan, and Ben Durrant, (rhythm section/production team for Roma di Luna, Toby Thomas Churchill, and our latest project, WAREY featuring Channy Leaneagh (Polica , Roma di Luna.) Since 2011 we've been playing as both an instrumental trio and as a backing band for Channy Leaneagh (Polica) and Duluth singer-songwriter TOBY THOMAS CHURCHILL (The Alrights). We have released a few early instrumental trio recordings on our sound cloud & FACEBOOK PAGEs. We recorded with both Toby and Channy in 2014, and Toby's new record, "Where is My Rumspringa Darling?" was released on Chaperone Records to rave reviews.

After over a year of hard work and preparation, Emily Johnson / Catalyst's new performance installation, SHORE, premiered in June as part of Northrop's Grand re-Opening season in MInneapolis. SHORE is the third part of a trilogy of works that began with The Thank-you Bar,(2009) and continued with Niicugni (2012). Creation of SHORE has been a collaboration between myself, choreographer Emily Johnson, 3 time Obie-award winning director Ain Gordon, and singer songwriter Nona Marie Invie (DARK DARK DARK) along with Fletcher Barnhill, Aretha Aoki, Krista Langberg, and The SHORE Choir. We also had our longtime Catalyst lighting designer Heidi Eckwall and costumer Angie Vo on the team. SHORE has four parts - STORY, ACTION, PERFORMANCE, and FEAST - over the course of a week. Next tour stops will be NYC (New York Live Arts), Alaska (Bunnel Street Arts Center), San Francisco (ODC) and Seattle (On The Boards) in 2015.

BLACKFISH, my experiemental improvisation duo with composer / multi-instrumentalist Joel Pickard, released our TYB Tour Collection of 8 CDs lin FALL 2011, with special concerts in Minneapolis and New York to celebrate. (Click on links for more info) Last fall, we released the final, 9th installment, BF09: New York. The limited edition, individually numbered and letter-pressed CD packages were designed by Scott Ponik and look amazing. They're available for purchase through the Catalyst online store as either individual discs or as the 8-CD box set.. There are also new videos from our various BLACKFISH shows on the Cataystvimeo page, with more to be added soon. (Headphones recommended) You can also listen and/or download whole concerts or individual BF "tracks" at our bandcamp page. BF09: New York had an October 2014 release with shows to celebrate in Minneapolis and Grand Marais. We're also honored to have collaborated with acclaimed Irish Choreographer John Scott on the score to his award winning dance, Body Duet., which got rave reviews for its premieres in Dublin, and US premiere in Philadelphia. Body Duet features tracks from several of the BLACKFISH TYB Tour collection, as well as the track "Ghost Dog" from Sans Le Systeme.

The "MAKING MUSIC" conversations series celebrated its 17th Season in SPRING 2013
with guest ASTRONAUTALIS on Thursday January 31 at The Whole Music Club. SO Percussion (NYC) were my previous guests at The Walker Art Center for an amazing show that included collaborators Emily Johnson and Ain Gordon talking about their new piece "Where (we) Live" which is now touring the USA. Last spring, we had great shows with ALPHA CONSUMER (members of Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, The Cloak Ox, The Pines) on Feb 16, PETER WOLF CRIER, on March 1, and DYLAN HICKS on April 26. Making Music
video & audio highlights from past shows are available on the Whole's
YouTube Channel. Making Music shows are FREE and open to
all ages, but due to limited capacity, free advance tickets are highlly
recomended and available throughThe
WMC's website. I recently appeared on The Current Presents with Mark Wheat to talk about the series and our Spring 2012 Season, and played highlights from past shows with guests including Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Adelle) Ryan Olson (Polica, GAYNGS), Martin Dosh, and Pink Mink.
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Previous guests include Dave Longstreth (Dirty Projectors), Jason Moran, Dan Wilson, (Semisonic, Adelle) Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), David Harrington (Kronos Quartet),, Martin Dosh, Robert Skoro,
Sean Daley aka Slug, The Cloak Ox, Haley Bonar, DARK DARK DARK, James Diers (Halloween, Alaska), Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner, Wendy Lewis (The Bad Plus), Andrew Broder (FOG, WHY?), Stef Alexander aka POS, So Percussion, Sean McPhereson, Spaghetti Western
String Co., Darren Jackson aka Kid Dakota, Andrew
Bird, Anthony Davis aka ANT (Atmosphere), Dessa
Darling, Josh Grier (Tapes N Tapes), Ryan
Olcott (Mystery Palace), Morton Subotnick, and Lori Barbero (Babes In Toyland). You Can Follow MAKING MUSIC on FACEBOOK. To read the 2006 Making Music
cover story in The Pulse newspaper, click here.